[OKC] Jim Roth unravels special interests on climate-change bill

[Shauna Struby]

<file:///C:\Users\shauna\AppData\Roaming\Windows%20Live%20Writer\PostSupport
ingFiles\2fed0cac-1e6e-433c-81dc-6ef306a1600d\worldonfire%5b2%5d.png> I
admire Jim Roth for attempting to make sense of the confusing array of
special interests lobbying on the complex climate-change bill currently
before our nation's Senate. In an opinion piece in the Journal Record
<http://www.journalrecord.com/article.cfm?recID=100518>  today, Roth
provides a rational and much-needed service to Oklahoma by providing enough
facts and context to place this complicated issue in perspective. Some
highlights:

*	Environmental groups initially united are now somewhat divided after
the House version passed. Some welcomed the bill, while others criticized
the generous concessions to the coal and nuclear energy lobbies.
*	One of the nation's most outspoken climate scientists, NASA's James
Hansen, warned, "The danger is that special interests will dilute and torque
government policies, causing the climate to pass tipping points, with grave
consequences for all life on the planet." 
*	No group exemplifies the level of interest more than the American
Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity [a front-group with an oxymoron for a
name]. Representing 48 mining firms, coal-hauling railroads and coal-burning
power companies, ACCCE spent $9.95 million lobbying in 2008. And that's just
the amount disclosed by the association, let alone the 40 coal companies and
related interests. 
*	Electricity is largest single source of U.S. greenhouse gas
emissions, and the most carbon-intensive fuel, coal, still provides half the
nation's power. There's no technology today that removes the carbon out of
coal-fired power and many even question the possibility of "clean coal." 
*	Green groups like the Sierra Club have been joined by a new wave of
interests from the American Academy of Pediatrics to the Evangelical
Environmental Network. Combine alternative energy and environmental/health
lobbyists, and they are still outnumbered by all other interests, more than
8-to-1. 
*	Do we move forward with this legislation, even if imperfect, and try
to improve it as it goes along in the Senate? The alternative choice is to
have no comprehensive federal legislation and let our children deal with it.

Note: Ninety-nine percent (99%) of the world's scientists say human-caused
climate change is happening now. Many are concerned we'll experience
catastrophic consequences if we don't address the problem immediately. One
of the world's preeminent climatologists, James Hansen, mentioned above by
Roth, has long predicted the changes we're seeing now, and has been correct
in 100 percent of his predictions. The New Yorker
<http://www.newyorker.com/>  published an in-depth profile on Hansen in
their June 29, 2009 issue, available online to subscribers.

"The Catastrophist," by Elizabeth Kolbert, offers details on Hansen's
predictions, his background and his concern that we are past the tipping
point for what is known in scientific circles as "dangerous anthropogenic
interference" a.k.a D.A.I. From the article:

Hansen has now concluded, partly on the basis of his latest modelling
efforts and partly on the basis of observations made by other scientists,
that the threat of global warming is far greater than even he had suspected.
Carbon dioxide isn't just approaching dangerous levels, it is already there.
Unless immediate action is taken -- including the shutdown of all the
world's coal plants within the next two decades -- the planet will be
committed to change on a scale society won't be able to cope with.'This
particular problem has become an emergency,' Hansen said.

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Shauna, OKC

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